Bishops Place Design Revisions Filed

A planning application has gone in for the design revisions to Bishops Place, the huge development by Hammerson to stand near the edge of the City of London in Hackney.

Following the previous application which was deferred by the local council a number of modifications have been made to the scheme that keep it broadly the same, whilst tweaking it and making a few more noticeable revisions.

The main changes made by the architect, Foster + Partners, to the scheme are to the massing of the tallest building, residential in nature, caused in part by the rentention of 233 Shoreditch High Street, better known as the Lightbar. This is the part of the local conservation area which spreads on to the site, and as a result is locally protected.

As a result of this the residential building no longer has a footprint with three staggered sections but instead is a regular rectangle shape thanks to the removal of the eastern flank. To break up the bulk Foster's has added a vertical indentation up the northern side visually splitting the northern flank into two.

Taking into account protected views from Westminster Pier to St Paul's Cathedral the south western corner of the tallest tower has been sliced off meaning it is no longer visible from the South Bank, although it was barely capable of being seen before.

Underneath the site provision exists for an eight track railway to be used in the future and connected to Liverpool Street Station. With this in mind the main office building has the shape of an inverted L and an impressive 27 metre long cantilever that makes it look almost impossible.

The changes to the project have reduced the floor space on offer marginally from 143,701 square metres to 137,842 square metres with approximately half the reduction in the tallest building.

With these changes Hammerson will be hoping this time round the scheme is acceptable for Hackney council and the changes made to retain the Lightbar will have stopped the development from becoming a local bÍte noire.